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As of 2015[update], "The Darknet" is often used interchangeably with the dark web due to the quantity of hidden services on Tor's darknet. The term is often used inaccurately and interchangeably with the deep web due to Tor's history as a platform that could not be search indexed. Mixing uses of both of these terms has been described as inaccurate,[7] with some commentators recommending the terms be used in distinct fashions.[8][9]

"Darknet" was coined in the 1970s to designate networks which were isolated from ARPANET, which evolved into the Internet, for security purposes.[10] Darknets were able to receive data from ARPANET, but had addresses which did not appear in the network lists and would not answer pings or other inquiries.

Journalist J. D. Lasica in his 2005 book Darknet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation describes the darknet's reach encompassing file sharing networks.[12] Consequently, in 2014, journalist Jamie Bartlett in his book The Dark Net would use it as a term to describe a range of underground and emergent sub cultures, including

All darknets require specific software installed or network configurations made to access them, such as Tor which can be accessed via a customised browser from Vidalia, aka the Tor browser bundle or alternatively via a proxy server configured to perform the same function.

Riffle is a client-server darknet system that simultaneously provides secure anonymity (as long as at least one server remains uncompromised), efficient computation, and minimal bandwidth burden.[14][15]